Former Teamsters President Ron Carey Acquitted

October 12, 2001

NEW YORK (AP) --
Former Teamsters president Ron Carey was acquitted Friday of charges he lied
about the illegal diversion of union funds to his 1996 re-election campaign.

“I'm so delighted,” Carey said outside federal
court. Carey, 64, had been charged with perjury and other offenses for
allegedly lying when he told investigators he did not know about the scheme. He
could have gotten up to five years in prison on each of seven counts.

Prosecutors said the 1.4-million-member union illegally
funneled $885,000 to political action groups, which in turn arranged donations
to the Carey campaign from wealthy individuals. Carey's 1996 victory over James
P. Hoffawas thrown out after the
plot was discovered. Hoffa was elected in a new election in 1999.

“We are disappointed but we respect the jury's
verdict,” said Herb Haddad, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.

After the verdict was announced, Carey hugged his three crying
daughters.

“We are relieved at the result because when the U.S.
government comes at you with guns blazing, a lot can happen,” defense
attorney Reid Weingarten said. Defense lawyers had portrayed Carey as a
reformer who cut his own salary and eliminated perks such as private jets and
limousines when he took over the presidency of the nation's largest union in
1992.

Juror Maria Figueroa, a retired phone company manager, said
the jury concluded that a Carey aide lied when she testified that the union
boss knew about the scheme. "I felt sorry for him. I actually believed he was
a good guy trying to carry out good things for the Teamsters,” she said.

Lawyers for Carey said it was ironic that prosecutors had so
zealously pursued charges against a man they said only wanted to clean up a
once mob-plagued union. Over objections from the prosecution, U.S. District
Judge Robert L. Carter let the jury hear about Carey's cost-cutting at the
union.

Also, government witness Jere Nash, Carey's 1996 campaign
manager, praised Carey as a reformer after testifying that Carey knew about the
fund-raisingplot.

“What always impressed me about Mr. Carey is that he
wanted to use the resources of the union to benefit the members,” Nash said.
He added that Carey's reputation as a reformer was “more than a political
slogan.”

Hoffa's father, Jimmy Hoffa, was president of the Teamsters
from 1957 to 1971. He vanished in 1975 and is presumed dead.

Carey said he may someday return to the labor movement.

“It's been in my blood for 40 years,” he said. “I
need to really think about that. Obviously, I would want to sit back and shake
off what has been a tragic part of my life.”